Thirtysomething

Live 8

I'll probably wind up going to Live 8. Because honestly, what else am I going to do? It's not like I could even get out of the city if I wanted to--too many roads will be blocked off. And this Live 8 thing is only about 8 blocks from my apartment.

The thing is, I'm not even sure I believe in the cause. I mean, yeah, yeah, end poverty in Africa. I get it. And series of concerts is going to convince world leaders at the G8 Summit to do that? Right. It's a concert, people, and as much as Bob Geldof would like to believe that the awareness level of millions of people will be affected enough to change the world, the reality is people are going to see Jay-Z or Dave Matthews or Maroon 5. They'll remember who they saw at a free show. If they were selling tickets to this show and the artists waived their fees and donated all the money to Africa, maybe that would be a different story. But I just don't see how anyone in Africa is going to benefit from this.

Also, there will be riots. I've been to a lot of these all day concert things. There is almost always some sort of destruction. With the exception of Lillith Fair. This isn't Lillith Fair. This is not Woodstock circa 1969 and it's not even 1985 when the first Live Aid took place. Since the mid-90s on large concerts with multiple musical acts breed anger for whatever reason. Particularly when there's no crowd control. Too many people, it gets too hot, people go nuts. A million people on the Parkway in July? Even though most of the musical acts are somewhat tame (um, Jovi? Sarah McLachlan?), there are also acts like Jay Z and Linkin Park that might breed a bit more excitement. The good news is that the event is scheduled to be over at 6 p.m., because people like to light stuff on fire when it gets dark.

I would be surprised if this isn't a disaster. But that doesn't mean I won't go.

posted by DJ Heavy D @ 6:29 AM